[DeTomaso] fuel boosters

[JDeRyke at aol.com]

Unfortunately, real honest-to-god (TEL) tetra-ethyl lead is illegal to sell 
in the United States for motor fuel and has been for decades. What the 
'lead-containing' octane boosters have is some other type of lead compound 
(probably finely-divided lead oxide- a white powder once used in paint), but not 
TEL. 

FWIW, The Ethyl Corp in Texas had the patent on making this stuff and for 
once, the far east rip-off artists left something alone... maybe because TEL 
and the compounds used to make it are violently explosive. Every now 'n 
then, The Ethyl Corp would lose an acre of property way out in the boondocks- 
building, process equipment, workers and all- in a huge military-sized 
fireball. They'd swallow hard, pay the insurance premiums and throw up another 
cheap building, automated even more so they wouldn't lose as many workers the 
next time, and continue production. The stuff is actually worse than 
nitromethane in any quantity 'cause at least nitro can be stabilized..... 

Second little quirk of TEL is, besides its explosive qualities, it's one of 
the five most poisonous compounds on the face of the earth (or was at one 
time- I haven't kept up); thru the skin from one or two drops spattered, 
inhalation of fumes- you name it and the stuff can get you. The only reason 
consumers didn't get blown to bits or poisoned is, the amount used in 'ethyl' 
gas (that's where the name came from) was extremely small- only a few drops 
per gallon, so the hazards got proportionally diluted. 
The likelihood of being able to buy a bottle of magic fuel-boost with any 
amount of real TEL concentrate in it is pretty much impossible- and that's a 
good thing for anyone within a few blocks of your garage. 
FWIW- J Deryke (who used to work with ultra-nasties like this and lived to 
tell about it....)